Golden Week brings booming business to HK hotels and restaurants

Hong Kong’s hospitality and dining sectors saw strong demand during National Day Golden Week, as mainland tourists took advantage of an extended holiday period following the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Immigration Department expects roughly 1.29 million mainland visitors between 1 and 7 October. Speaking on RTHK’s Millennium Era, Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, noted that daily arrivals have been high since 25 September, peaking at 160,000 on 26 September alone.

Mainland visitor numbers have grown consistently, leading to noticeable traffic in key shopping and leisure hubs including Causeway Bay, Central, and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Chui noted that most hotels reported occupancy rates above 90%, with small and medium-sized properties fully booked and room rates up by 10% to 20%. Guests are typically staying for at least two nights.

He attributed the surge partly to tourists combining the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, alongside adverse weather in alternative destinations such as Thailand, which redirected travel flows to the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong, and Macau. Post-pandemic marketing campaigns, improved service quality, and festive highlights—such as the Victoria Park lantern display—have reinforced Hong Kong’s appeal as an experiential destination.

Meanwhile, Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said both locals and tourists are spending more. Chinese restaurants did well during the Mid-Autumn Festival, with business up about 20%. He said National Day community events and the large number of Golden Week tourists gave the sector an extra boost.

The catering industry has also rolled out a series of promotions during the Mid-Autumn and Golden Week periods, alongside attractions such as fireworks, which successfully encouraged Hong Kong residents to spend locally. Wong said the spending power of both residents and visitors has grown.

On cross-border transport, Freeman Cheung, vice-chairman, secretary-general, and prominent spokesperson for the Hong Kong-Guangdong Boundary Crossing Bus Association, said additional services have been added during the Golden Week. For example, cross-border buses departing from the Shenzhen Bay Port to urban areas between 8am and 11am have been increased from one every 15 to 20 minutes to one every 5 to 10 minutes, mainly serving destinations such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay.

Don't miss: HK rolls out National Day offers spanning transport to retail

To mark this year's National Day, the Hong Kong government has joined forces with various sectors to roll out a series of special offers and activities spanning public transport, arts and culture, leisure, dining, and shopping.

On 1 October, the MTR gave away 77,000 e-single-journey rides through a lucky draw. All passenger tram routes and several Star Ferry and Fortune Ferry routes were also free, and children using designated payment methods could ride most daytime franchised bus routes of KMB, Long Win Bus, Citybus and New Lantao Bus for free.

For culture, arts and leisure, all commercial cinemas provided half-price discounts on movie tickets on 1 October. The public were also be offered free admission on the same day to a number of fee-charging leisure facilities and exhibitions in museums of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and to the Hong Kong Wetland Park under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

This year's National Day fireworks display lit up the night sky over Victoria Harbour at 8pm on 1 October. The 23-minute spectacle featured more than 30,000 pyrotechnic shells launched across eight distinct segments.

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